Mercury News editorial: Attack on Planned Parenthood is an attack on poor women

Mercury News Editorial

Posted:
04/12/2011 08:00:00 PM PDT

The Republican Party's vendetta against Planned Parenthood is not about abortion. It is an attack on poor women.

President Barack Obama and other Democratic leaders need to constantly make that point as the long-term budget battle rages on. The assault on the nonprofit will not end with last week's temporary budget compromise.

Planned Parenthood has become a symbol for abortion in this country, even though 90 percent of its work is preventive and general health care. Federal grants now go toward that 90 percent of services; not a penny of federal money goes toward abortion. So cutting off funding to Planned Parenthood actually would cut off millions of women from health care, including cancer screenings, treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and, yes, contraception, which, arguably, is the best way to prevent abortions and help low-income women escape poverty.

Already fear is spreading among poor communities. In California's Central Valley, women are calling their health care providers at Planned Parenthood in a panic because they see in the news that they might lose access to birth control.

Planned Parenthood Mar Monte runs 32 health care centers in California, including eight in Santa Clara County and several others around the Bay Area, plus two in northern Nevada. It saw 243,531 patients in 2010, 89 percent of whom qualified for Medi-Cal. That means their income was less than $22,350 for a family of four.

Opponents of abortion have a right to argue for making it illegal, as it was in the dark ages of women's rights. But using Planned Parenthood as a symbol and cutting its funding will create massive collateral damage among the poor women who will lose health care. Democratic leaders have to be relentless in pointing this out.